| 4th | 9.30am | Rev John Peak - A short Easter Morning Communion Service |
| 11am | Rev John Peak - Easter Celebration Service | |
| 11th | 11am | Sally Loudwill |
| 18th | 11am | Mrs Sue Kendall |
| 6.30pm | Rev P Simpkins | |
| 25th | 11am | Clive Smale |
On Sunday 7 March, we focused on the Rural Community during our morning service and again in the evening.
Deaconess Anita Hart, the Methodist Rural Lay Worker based at Shebbear led our morning worship.
At 7.00pm the Rev David Ursell, the Rural Convenor for Exeter Diocese, led a seminar. He outlined some of the causes of the present financial predicament within the farming industry and explained the importance of there being pastoral support.
Farming is predominantly a solitary vocation and the pressures from ever decreasing profitability and ever increasing bureaucracy is a recipe for stress. We all deal with stress in different ways, and what is enough to crush one may be a light burden for another.
He pointed out the need to listen and be discerning of people's needs, and that we all have a part to play in this. He (David Ursell) is part of a network of people on hand to listen, and direct to others as the situation dictates.
Many are too self-reliant; it is not a sign of weakness or failure to admit a need of help and seek it, but a sign of strength in wanting to find a way forward. David Ursell closed his session by referring to the importance of knowing God. This led nicely into the theme of my message during the 8 O'clock service.
After introductions by the Rev John Peak, Colin Manning reminded the congregation of last year's Farming Service. I spoke of our personal relationship with God and of the need to come to him: in the right way (as a child approaching his or her loving father) with the right attitudes (acknowledging our dependency upon God and need of his forgiveness) and with right expectations (God does listen to our prayers and we are to keep praying -asking seeking and knocking until we are open enough to God to recognise his response).
The Rev John Peak then led in prayer which was followed with a song by Ann Stevens.
As I write this on the morning of the deadline for the April issue, Hot Cross Buns have been available in some shops for quite some time - several pennies are now needed to buy one!
By the time you read this, Good Friday - the day we remember the excruciatingly painful death Jesus suffered on a crude wooden cross, and the reason for the buns - will probably be over.
Did we I wonder think of the reason for the bun as we bit our way through it?
I don't know about the Easter bunnies, but I do know that we have something to hop and skip with delight about. Because Jesus died on the cross, he made it possible for us all to receive and know God's forgiveness.
We don't need to carry guilt burdens around with us; we can dump them at the foot of Christ's cross.
The baby chicks break out of their shells to discover a whole new world around them. A world of brightness that they have not known and a freedom that they have not experienced.
As many of us spend part of Easter breaking into chocolate eggs, perhaps we can take a moment to consider breaking out of our shells of self concern.
Many of us create a world of our own, surround ourselves with the things, people and activities which please us. Easter is a time that overflows with a message of new life and new beginnings.
May it be a time for all of us to step out of the shells of our everyday lives, and to step out into the brilliant light of God. May we discover a whole new world as we try to see it through his eyes, and experience a lightness in our step as we unload our burdens at the cross.
Having unloaded our burdens, received God's forgiveness and received the newness to life which he gives, we discover and experience a new freedom of living as a child of God.
Make this Easter different - break the secular mould and let God in.